


Liesmith

by GrimalkinInTheSewers



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Dark Character, Mind Games, Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-01
Updated: 2015-03-01
Packaged: 2018-03-15 21:38:58
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3462971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GrimalkinInTheSewers/pseuds/GrimalkinInTheSewers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sif has always been good at fighting monsters.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Liesmith

Sif followed Odin into the dungeons reluctantly. She wasn’t really sure what to make of his request, but of course he was king of Asgard, and she would never disobey him. He had been withdrawn lately, cold. She was not the only one who had noticed it, but everyone else told her that it was only natural after Frigga’s death. She was not so sure. Something was going on, and it seemed as if she was about to find out what it was. 

They walked towards the cells were Asgard’s prisoners were held. Not so many now after the elves had freed most of them. To her surprise Odin stopped before they reached the final entrance, stepped into an alcove behind a tapestry, and touched an ornament on the wall. A door opened she had never before noticed, and she slipped through behind him. They had entered a narrow tunnel that was only faintly illuminated by two small windows far above them. “No one else can know of this,” he said.  


She tried to guess his thoughts from his face, but his closed expression told her nothing. She nodded.

“I mean it,” he repeated. “No one. Not even Thor.”

Surprise and weariness filled her. She had been disappointed when Thor left for Midgard again. Part of her resented the fact that he was so enamored with the mortal. It was always mortal women with Thor, or serving wenches, or other dalliances far beneath his station. Sometimes he claimed love, most of the time it wasn’t expected. He was a warrior, a prince, a god, and women flocked to him. He was not one to say no. He was not one to say no to. Once she had entertained the thought that he would one day notice her feelings for him, that he would decide to settle down. It was foolish, and she had known that for a long time. If Thor would ever marry, it certainly wouldn’t be her. She was not the type of woman he coveted, and he would never commit to anything of his own volition. If he would marry, it would be for the crown. A crown he had turned down, because he didn’t feel ready. Sometimes she wondered what Odin thought of that, if he was glad to still be king, or if he resented it as a burden. More often than not, she thought it was the latter. 

“Yes, Allfather,” she said at his expectant gaze. “I understand.”

“You don’t, yet,” he said. “But you will.” He had lit a torch while they were speaking, and started to walk down the narrow spiral staircase that wound down at the end of the tunnel. It seemed to go on forever, twisting and turning until even her experienced sense of direction could not tell her where and how deep under the castle they were. Finally, they entered another tunnel. The air was stale, and held a faint smell of decay. Sif shuddered. She suddenly had a suspicion where she was. 

There had been rumors, stories about old parts of the castle left over from Bor’s reign. She had been too young to be allowed to listen to the war stories her grandfather told, but sometimes she had sneaked out of bed and listened in when the warriors talked at night. Even as a girl the stories had fascinated her. 

Was this the place where they had kept their most dangerous prisoners? Too powerful to be killed, but too vicious and cruel to ever roam free? Immortal beings of old, the stories claimed. Monsters of the first age. She looked into the darkness, trying to hear a sound or catch a glimpse of what dwelled here. There was nothing. The only thing she could smell was old death. 

“Come,” Odin said. He sounded weary all of a sudden, and his weariness spread like cold through her bones. They reached a heavy door made of silver and iron, covered in runes that implied strong and old spells. She had never been good at feeling seidr, and that was one reason why it frightened her. It was cowardly, and was too often used for evil. She knew, in an abstract way, that the Allfather was a seidmenn, but she had never seen him use it, and for this she was grateful. Seidkonur were one thing, she could respect them. They used their talent for the good of all, for foresight and healing. But men who practiced seidr, especially in war? It corrupted them. She had seen that often enough.

He took a key from his belt and opened the seven locks on the door in a way that suggested there was a certain pattern required. She remembered it, just in case. 

The door opened, and she heard the clang of chains. She stepped in front of Odin, expecting some vicious beast to attack them, but what she saw was not what she expected. She gasped as her eyes fell on the figure that had withdrawn as she stepped forward, and was now huddled against the dark stone wall opposite of them. 

“Loki!” she whispered. “How? I thought he was dead!” She had been glad as the news reached them that the argr prince was dead, even though Thor grieved for him. Thor had loved his brother, she knew that, and she knew she could not change that no matter how foolish it was. One day Loki would turn on him and kill him, she had always been sure of it. Loki’s death had solved all their problems, but now it seemed he was still alive. How was that possible?

Loki’s vicious green eyes stared at her, mocked her. 

“He faked his death to escape,” Odin said tiredly. “After our victory I sent a warrior to investigate the site of his death, and he killed him and returned to Asgard in disguise. He thought I was so weakened by grief that he could overpower me. Of course he failed.”

Shock and anger filled her, and Loki’s mocking grin widened. 

“Why keep him here?” she asked. “Why keep him alive?”

The Allfather studied his evil son. “There are some things about Loki you don’t know. Things Frigga and I never told anyone.” He hesitated for a moment. “Loki is not my true-born son,” he said then. “He is a foundling Frigga and I adopted as our own. The son of Laufey and Farbauti.”

“He is Jotun!” That explained everything. She had always wondered how kind Frigga and wise Odin could father a creature so unnatural and monstrous, but now it was clear. Loki had been a monster all along, a monster hiding in the skin of an Aesir. The work of his sorcery, no doubt. She looked at him with disgust, wondering what he really looked like under his disguise. “Why?” she repeated.

“I’m not sure we could kill him,” Odin said. “Even if we could, his daughter reigns in Hel. He could find a way back, and if he would…”

“Ragnarok,” she whispered, horrified. 

“The risk is too great.” Odin looked at the creature. “I have imprisoned him here, but he is fighting me even now. He is fighting the spells that bind his sorcery. I had been hoping that he would eventually tire, but he is stronger than I thought. His nature makes him immune to thirst and hunger, it seems, and he does not need Idunn’s apples to retain his youth.”

“Weaken him, then,” she said. 

Loki smiled. “You would like that, wouldn’t you?” he whispered. “You would enjoy torturing me. It is what you have always wanted, after all. You have always hated me, envied me.”

“I have never envied you!” she screamed, infuriated. “I despise you!”

“I don’t doubt you do. And yet, you have envied me. You envied me Thor’s love, which you longed for for yourself; pitiful creature that you were, hiding in Thor’s shadow. As if he would ever look at you twice, the unnatural, ugly girl pretending to be a man.” Loki laughed and she dearly wished she could kill him. “You envied me because I have always been your better. You hate me because even though the Aesir despise me, they still respect me more than you, simply because I am a man. You hate me because I have born children and gone to war and practiced seidr, because I’m living proof that all your sacrifices were for nothing. I’m proof that you can never overcome what you are. Weak and pathetic.”

She clenched her fists. “You are not my better! You are a monster, always have been. It is true, I hate you. I hate you because of what you are and what you have done! You are a murderer and a traitor. I could never compare myself to you!”

“If you say so.” Loki laughed. “Don’t you wonder why the Allfather brought you here? What possible use could you have for him, except your hatred?”

She did not look at Odin, but she knew in the same moment that it was the truth. Bile rose in her throat at the thought of spending more time with this monster, but she knew what her duty was, and she was humbled by the Allfather’s trust. She would not disappoint him. “I will take care of it,” she said.

“Thank you, Sif,” Odin said, and she could hear the gratefulness in his voice that he didn’t have to spell it out for her. The creature was still a son to him, she thought with disgust. He could not bear the thought of hurting him, even if it was the only way to protect Asgard. She had no such qualms. If there had ever been a villain who deserved to suffer, it was Loki. 

“Will you find your way back?” Odin asked, putting his torch on the wall next to the door and handing her the key. 

She nodded. “Leave it to me.”

He put a hand on her shoulder. “I knew I could rely on you.”

Pride filled her, and she fixed her gaze on Loki as he left. He was still smiling, as if he was enjoying this. He leant against the wall as if this was a lavish abode rather than a cell. The cuffs on his wrists were inscribed with runes, no doubt to contain his seidr, and bound to the ceiling and the wall with heavy chains. She looked at the round hooks in the high ceiling and smiled. A moment later she tugged at the chains and they shortened, dragging him into the middle of the room. When she pulled them even further he was pulled up towards the ceiling, and his feet kicked at empty air. She fastened the chains to the wall and walked slowly around him, considering what she would do to him. He would heal fast, she knew. He had always healed fast, even as a child. Maybe because he was Jotun, although she had thought it was seidr back then. She kicked him in the ribs. He only gasped.

When she stepped in front of him she drew her dagger. She would like to cut off his limbs piece by piece, but that might kill him, and she couldn’t risk that. He had to stay alive. Instead, she cut at the remains of his armor, cutting them away until he was naked. He didn’t seem bothered, which surprised her. He had always been very proud. 

She cut across his breast, leaving tiny cuts that would not bleed much but hurt all the same. “Lost your voice, Silvertongue?” she mocked. 

“What do you want me to say to you?”, he asked. His voice was even, which annoyed her. It seemed he was not the slightest affected by what she did. “You are a pathetic woman, who the Allfather uses to do his dirty work. You think he values you, but in truth he only values your blind loyalty. Any other warrior would have considered this work dishonorable, but you are not a true warrior, are you?” He gasped, and she pulled her hand back when blood ran across her fingers. She had cut deeper than she wanted, and stabbed him beneath his ribs. Not deep enough to do real harm, though. 

“What would you know about being a true warrior, Ergi?” She cut across his back. “You have never been one. Instead, you have cheated using your cursed Seidr, and lain with horses and giants to bring monsters into the world. You boast of your children, but I would rather die than birth such creatures. What you are proud of, we had to bring down!”

He froze, and suddenly twisted in his chains, wrapping his legs around her to pull her up and slip one of the chains around her neck. “What do you know of monsters?” he hissed, choking her. “You are more of a monster than any of my children could ever be. They were beautiful in a way your feeble Aesir mind could never understand. You slaughtered and imprisoned them on the Allfather’s orders, yes, never questioning his motives. The truth is, he feared them. He feared their power and their wisdom. He feared they would destroy Asgard. They wouldn’t have, but now, they will.”

She stabbed into his armpit and he let her go. She landed on her feet outside his reach, gasping for air. He hang in his chains, bleeding, his face contorted by rage. She kicked him in the balls, and he tried to kick her back, even though he hissed in pain.  


Fury overtook her, and she punched and kicked him until she was exhausted and he was barely conscious. Finally, his smirk had disappeared. She smiled grimly and grabbed the torch. The Allfather would rest well tonight, and she would be back tomorrow.

This was her duty now, and she would not fail it. If she was honest, she found pleasure in it. 

. 

After Sif had left, Loki opened his eyes and smiled.


End file.
